Vance undecided on whether Peltola should be prosecuted

Fort Worth, Texas — Vice President Vance did not say on Thursday whether he agreed with President Trump’s calls to prosecute Democrat Mary Peltola over her Senate campaign’s reported efforts to recruit a spoiler candidate in Alaska.

“Well, I think we should certainly look into whether she committed election fraud,” Vance told The Hill while speaking with reporters at Joint Base Andrews en route to a campaign rally in Texas. “I mean, she is a person who, for months now, has pretended that she has had nothing to do with the fact that they have put a fraudulent person, a person explicitly designed to confuse Alaska voters on the ballot.”

“Whether it’s criminal or not, she certainly has committed, I think, a great moral failing, and hopefully the voters of Alaska punish her,” he continued.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that Peltola campaign aides, the campaign’s lawyers and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) staffers were involved in pushing other candidates, including Daniel J. Sullivan, to run in the race against incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) in an effort to confuse voters.

Peltola’s campaign and the DSCC have denied any involvement.

“The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign. Like Mary, our campaign is focused on lowering costs and fixing the rigged system in DC and did not recruit any candidates into the race,” the Peltola campaign said in a statement.

Trump said Wednesday that Peltola should be “criminally prosecuted” for her campaign’s role in recruiting Daniel J. Sullivan.

“I think the fake Dan Sullivan and Mary Peltola, number one they should be taken off the ballot, and number two they should be prosecuted,” the president told reporters.

Trump and his GOP allies have long accused Daniel J. Sullivan of playing the role of spoiler in the race, which has become one of the most contested Senate races this midterm cycle.

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit in Alaska to block the Senate contest’s results from certification if the incumbent loses, citing the two Sullivans on the ballot.